Looking Out
by Jayne Leigh
Summary: Set after 'In The Shadows Of Two Gunmen: Part 1&2.' Leo goes to see Josh at the hospital and has a conversation with The President about what happened. Please review


**Hey! I've only just started watching The West Wing and I've only watched the first three series but I loved the ending for series one and loved 'In The Shadows Of Two Gunmen: Part 1&2' even more. So, I thought I'd have a shot at writing a standalone fic set after the shooting. I'm not sure whether it fits completely with the time line of the actually story but it was just an small idea I had! Please review and let me know what you think!! Thank you!! **

**Enjoy!!! **

**Looking Out**

Leo walked past Margaret and into his office, not bothering to pause or even look at her. He dropped into his chair with a loud sigh. Glancing at the clock on his desk, it was 6:50 A.M. It had been one hell of a 48 hours. He groaned when there was a knock on the door. He just wanted 2 minutes of silence to reflect on everything that had happened.

"What?" He called out.

"Leo?" Toby walked into the office, closely followed by Sam and C.J.

"What can I do for you guys?" He sighed.

"We're going to get some breakfast... Would you like to join us?" C.J asked, softly.

"We haven't eaten much since it all happened..." Sam added an explanation, not wanting the Chief of Staff to think they were just being insensitive to the situation. "And we know we all need to be on top form today..."

"It's okay, Sam..." Leo held his hand up to stop him. "You go ahead, I'm going to head down to the hospital."

"Leo, you need food too." C.J told him. "The President will be the fine...The First Lady is with him, she'll make sure of that."

"No doubt about it." Leo smiled slightly, standing up. "But actually, I'm going to check on Josh."

"Would you like us to come with you?" She offered.

"No, Sam was right... I need you guys to give 100 today... Go get some breakfast and try to unwind a little." He ordered.

"You need a break too, Leo." Toby told him, as the three of them followed him out of the office.

"The President has been shot." Leo stated, glancing over the paper that Margaret had shoved into his hands before signing his name at the bottom. "I'll have a break when he's recovered."

"Leo..." C.J started, as he walked off down the corridor.

"Go have some breakfast..." He cut her off. "I'll be back in a couple of hours, then we're going to face this situation head on."

"Yes, sir." Toby sighed, stopping as Leo continued to head for the exit.

Sam and C.J stood beside him and the three of them looked at each other.

"Come on, boys..." She turned to walk in the other direction. "Lets go get some much needed coffee."

_**XxXxX**_

Leo pulled up a chair next to Josh's bedside, watching silently as he laid there peacefully... a little too peacefully for Leo's liking.

He had managed to convince Donna to go home and get a little bit of rest, promising to call her if anything happened. She had told him, he had been drifting in and out of consciousness all night. He had been there earlier with the President when Josh first woke up. When he had asked 'What's Next?' Leo wasn't sure whether he was confused about what was actually going on or if he was trying to be funny. He hoped it was the latter.

"Come on, Josh... Snap out of this..." Leo whispered; his eyes transfixed on his deputy, praying for some kind of movement. "They was shooting at us, Josh! Why didn't you take cover? Why didn't you get out of the way?"

No one seemed to know how Josh got shot. They knew he was behind them, which was probably why he wasn't put into the car with Leo, like he was meant to be.

"When bullets are being fired at you, you get out of the way!" Leo's voice got a little louder. "You're not stupid... You know that!"

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He didn't know why he was shouting at Josh. He was angry but not at Josh. He pushed himself to his feet, deciding to grab a coffee quickly, hoping there would be some change when he got back. He paused at the door and glanced back at him.

"You've got to snap out of this, Josh." He whispered once more before leaving the room.

He got himself a strong black coffee, thinking about how times like this were the hardest to stay away from alcohol, but he knew it wouldn't help matters and it would probably make things worse. He slowly made his way back to Josh's room but instead of walking to the door, he stopped by the window and watched him from there.

"How's he doing?"

Leo glanced across, hearing Jed's voice; he hadn't noticed him joining him.

"Not much change..." He told him. "The doctors are still a little concerned about his heart."

"He's a strong kid, he'll pull through." Jed said his eyes on Josh.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"I should be asking you that." Leo replied. "Abbey let you out again?"

"Only on good behaviour." The President joked, but turned back to Josh when Leo failed to smile. "I just wanted to check on him."

"You should be resting, Mr President." Leo told him.

"I don't need rest."

"Sir..."

"Why did this happen, Leo?"

He paused for a moment, thinking about the question, wishing he had an actual answer.

"I don't know..." He replied. "But we're going to find out why."

"Good."

They settled back into a comfortable silence, before both of them turned their attention back to Josh.

"He should have been in the car." Leo said after a few minutes.

"What?"

"He should have been in the car with me." Leo stated. "They should have put him in the car with me."

"Everything happened so fast..."

"We practice for this... Where did we go wrong?"

"Leo, other then the shooters, no one has died...There were 4 people that were hit..." Jed pointed out. "It could have been worse."

"Two of the four were The President Of The United States and The White House Deputy Chief of Staff... You were the most important person there... And Josh is fairly high up on the list too..." Leo claimed. "There should have been more protection."

Jed looked at him for a moment before replying. "You can go and fire someone if it'll make you feel better."

"Don't joke about this." Leo looked back to the window.

Jed sighed. "There's going to be an investigation into how things were done tonight... If it turns out something went wrong...Then God help the person that screwed up."

"I promised to watch out for him."

Jed frowned. "Who?"

"Josh... I promised his Father, I'd watch out for him." He explained.

"Leo, there was nothing you could have done."

"I looked for him... As I was pushed to the ground, I saw you getting pushed into one car and Zoey into another...Then I looked for him... I couldn't see him and panicked." Leo told him. "Then the next thing I knew, I was in a car."

"They had to get you out of there as fast as they could..." Jed said softly.

"No." He shook his head. "They had to get you out of there."

"Leo..."

"I asked them to find out where he was, but I forgot all about him when I found out you'd been hit."

"When he wakes up he's going to tell you that you're acting like a crazy old fool." Jed told him. "He wouldn't want you to be worrying about this..."

"I do worry about this... I worry about him."

Jed knew that Leo had always been closer to Josh then the others. Which wasn't surprising considering he was good friends with Josh's father and he had practically watched Josh grow up.

"I know you do." Jed replied softly. "So, go and sit with him...Talk to him... Tell him everything will be okay... Because it will be."

"You should get back to your room before Abbey sends the U.S Army out to find you."

"Okay..." Jed nodded. "You'll keep me posted?"

"Yeah..." Leo replied, watching as the President made his way back to his room, followed by his agents before entering Josh's room again.

He re-took the seat next to the bed, sighing when he saw Josh's eyes still closed. He rubbed his tired eyes but his head snapped up when he saw Josh move.

"Josh?"

"Le...?" He barely whispered.

"Hey, Kid..." He stood up, leaning over him. "I'm here."

"You're okay?" He asked, trying to force his eyes open.

"I've had better days but I'm okay..." He smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been shot."

"You have."

"Oh yeah..."

Leo laughed slightly. "You're going to be okay now, though."

"Everyone else?"

"C.J banged her head but she'll be fine..."

"I saw Sam push her down..."

"Yeah?"

"Leo?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry..."

"What for?"

"For not taking cover... Not getting out the way."

"Josh, you don't have anything to say sorry about."

"Then why did you shout at me earlier?"

"Oh, you heard that? Well, at least it snapped you out of it."

"I was watching you all."

"What?"

"I was watching you all... When I heard the shots... I had... I had to look for you... I saw the President and Zoey get pushed into a car... I saw Sam push C.J... I saw you being protected..." Josh mumbled then smiled slightly. "I saw about 20 guys jump on top of Toby."

"Josh, don't worry about any of this now..." Leo told him softly, noticing he was fighting to stay awake. "Go back to sleep."

"You shouted at me earlier for sleeping."

"That's because you scared the hell out of me." Leo replied. "You're not allowed to do that again."

"Sorry..."

"Go back to sleep."

"No one else was hurt?" He asked again.

Leo paused, trying to decide whether to tell him about the President or not.

"No, Josh... Everyone is fine..."

He'd tell him later, when he was a bit stronger.

"Good..." He muttered as he slowly lost the battle and went back to sleep.

Leo sighed and glanced upwards before whispering, almost silently. "Thank you."

**The End**

**Please review and let me know what you think!!! **


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